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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I installed Debian a week an a half ago (rather new to Linux) and since then managed to successfully compile a new kernel, which I'm using now (2.6.13.1 - from kernel.org) and I got very comfortable with fluxbox as a WM - instead of using KDE or GNOME, which I find rather bloated.

I'm curious how I could uninstall certain items to free up some space (not that I'm overly worried about it, but I see it's filling up since the installation of Debian. Since at the time of installation I wasn't quite certain what packages to install manually I let the installer do the job for me. Now, however, I'l like to get rid of the packages I have no use for such as KDE-based games.

Problem is dependencies. I tried apt-get uninstall to get rid of "Atlantik" as a trial run, but the dependencies include "kde"!! I'd still like to use some kde apps but I don't want to ditch "kde" because of some strange game that takes up 3MB!

Is there any way to uninstall these packages without "killing" kde or gnome?

Also - any suggestions on how to "clean" a system by uninstalling unused libs or other packages, orphaned files, old kernel versions, etc?

I'll try deborphan to see what I can free up.
I currently have 12GB allocated for / (35% used) and another 12 for /home (10% used) as separate partitions. Thing is I have a laptop which I use as a dual-boot system (XP/Linux). So I'd like to pear down the Linux installation and remove some packages that are useless for me (kde games, for instance), without removing the base packages (either KDE or GNOME) since I use some KDE and GNOME apps. Of course, there's still LOTS of space left but

As you can see it attempts to remove kde as a dependency which is rather strange.
Actually I wouldn't mind uninstalling KDE altogether but then again, there are certain K-apps I use. Not quite sure how I would re-install a pared down version of KDE later .... Hehe... something to fiddle with I suppose. A bit more research would be in order.

I would also like to investigate dependencies. I assume the packages are compiled with most options enabled, to make full use of other packages´ features, and thereby linking them together in a big dependency chain. But as alsac says, why does it seem like when one tries to remove just a single little application, the dependency checker wants to remove an entire desktop system? That is more of a rule than exception for me when I try to get rid of seemingly innocent small applications or libraries.

And the other way too, if I want to install an application I know do not need kde-libraries at all, the dependency checker wants to install the complete kde-system, just because the package maintainers have compiled the package with support for kde. I understand that this will make most applications work without problems in general, but if one wants a slim system, what to do?

Originally posted by alsac As you can see it attempts to remove kde as a dependency which is rather strange.

Okay, just for reference here are the packages to be removed:

atlantik
atlantikdesigner
kde
kde-amusements
kdeaddons
kdegames

Kde is the meta-pkg name for the kde environment. You are uninstalling a package that is dependent upon the meta-pkg kdegames which in turn is dependent upon kde. You see how this is just a chain effect? Atlantik is a part of the kdegames meta-pkg, which is part of the kde meta-pkg. So, when the link is broken they all tumble over.

To illustrate this let's assume I want to remove the kdegames meta-pkg.
Let's see what else gets pulled in:

Look familiar? The only difference between this and your apt session is that you went deeper into the dep hierarchy and pulled an application that was dependent upon kdegames itself. Once this occurred the rest was easily predictable. In short, this meant that kdegames had to be removed and then of course kde had to be uninstalled.

... Which means that the only solution really is to completely uninstall everything related to KDE and then re-install KDE (base) and only those packages that are usefull - at least for me. Rather awkward method but a good lesson for future installation.